1959 Eastern Pacific hurricane season
Hurricane Patsy 1959
Hurricane Patsy came to forecasters' attention near the International Date Line in September 1959, already a powerful cyclone. Aircraft reports revealed a storm whose early development had escaped observation. Its later course bent repeatedly around the date line as steering conditions changed.
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173 mph
Sep 9, 1959 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
A powerful hurricane found at sea
Aircraft reported Patsy on 6 September in a remote part of the Pacific. The sparse observing network had missed its earlier stages. In the current archive, one-minute sustained winds reached 150 kt at 18:00 UTC that day, making Patsy a Category 5 hurricane within its first day of recorded observations.
Turns near the date line
A trough first steered Patsy northeast. As that feature weakened, the hurricane curved northwest, before another trough turned it northeast again. The historical account describes crossings of the date line in both directions, an unusual path linking the central and western Pacific.
Patsy weakened as conditions became less favorable and its course turned farther north. The local archived record extends from 6 to 11 September. The storm's offshore history centers on its extreme intensity and changing route across an area with few observations.
Further reading
NOAA IBTrACS v04r01 historical track archive
QUICK ANSWERS
Patsy in brief
What was Hurricane Patsy's highest wind speed?
173 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Sep 6, 1959, 06:00 PM UTC.
What category was Hurricane Patsy?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Sep 6, 1959, 06:00 PM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Hurricane Patsy's lowest pressure?
970 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Sep 9, 1959, 06:00 PM UTC.
When did Hurricane Patsy occur?
The archived track runs from Sep 6, 1959, 12:00 AM UTC to Sep 11, 1959, 12:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Sep 6, 1959, 12:00 AM UTC to Sep 11, 1959, 12:00 AM UTC.
Where did Hurricane Patsy form?
In the Eastern Pacific basin, in the 1959 season. Its first archived position is 18.7°N, 178.7°W on Sep 6, 1959, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Hurricane Patsy make landfall?
No archived position places Hurricane Patsy's center over land, but positions are six-hourly and a brief landfall can fall between them.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology